All Chapters of Heiress No One Could Replace: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

"You finally came back."The airport doors slid open, and my brother Marco Romano blocked my path. My former fiancé Matteo Bellini stood on his left, and Nico, once my closest friend, flanked my right. Three years without seeing them, and this was the welcome they had prepared for me."I'm here for grandfather's birthday. I'm flying back to Paris tomorrow morning.""Still throwing a tantrum over Giulia?" Matteo stepped forward and seized my wrist.I looked down at his hand, then raised my eyes. "Let go.""Giulia’s father died for the Romano." Matteo's grip tightened. "Everyone else has shown her some decency. Only you can't stand her. ""You locked me in the wine cellar and listened to me beg all night." I kept my voice level. "And you call that a tantrum?""It was punishment." Marco laughed coldly. "You shoved her into the champagne tower just to humiliate her in front of everyone. The Romano family gave you everything, and you learned nothing but how to step on people."Three years

Chapter 2

The gates of the Romano estate swung open. Our sedan passed armed guards and rows of cars belonging to New York's major families.Grandfather had given me twenty-five percent of Romano Shipping, including control of its European routes—the real reason the Bellinis wanted me. What neither family knew was that, during my three years in Paris, I had expanded those routes from three to eleven and placed every European port agreement under companies I controlled.Giulia Ricci entered the ballroom with a white silk gown and my mother's pearl necklace. When I was eleven, I had been kidnapped by a rival family. Everyone believed I was dead. My parents took in Giulia, whose father had supposedly died protecting mine, and who bore an uncanny resemblance to me. By the time I made it home, she was sleeping in my room, wearing my clothes, calling my parents Mom and Dad. From that day on, whenever she cried, everyone assumed I had been the one to hurt her.She spotted me and her eyes welled up imme

Chapter 3

I pressed my back against the wall, fumbling for the zipper on my clutch. The drug was blurring my vision, tilting the floor beneath me. The darkness pulled me back three years. I could almost hear myself pounding on the wine cellar door again.My phone. I pulled it from my bag, found Lucien's contact through the haze, and was about to hit call when the door opened. Matteo stepped inside."Give me the phone.""Get out."He walked toward me, his expression softer now, as if I were a difficult child he still expected to control."This has gone far enough. Grandfather gave you control of the European routes, but those routes were always meant to support the Romano-Bellini alliance. You don't get to disappear for three years and take them with you.""So this was never about Giulia.""It is about both." Matteo stopped in front of me. "You will marry me, your shares will enter the Bellini alliance, and Giulia will remain under my protection. All you have to do is stop fighting everyone.""Yo

Chapter 4

Matteo reached for his hip but before he could draw, a guard pinned him to the table. The engagement ring clattered across the floor.Then Lucien walked in. His eyes found my pale face first, then moved to my wrist where Matteo had grabbed me."I told you." Lucien said to me. "These people aren't worth coming back for.""Grandfather is still here." My voice was barely a whisper."Then we take Vittorio with us." Lucien came to me. "No reason to set foot in this house again."Matteo struggled to rise. "Who are you?" Lucien caught his arm and slammed him into the wall. Before Matteo could recover, Lucien's fist connected with his face. Blood spilled from his lip. "You talk too much." Lucien said. The guards pinned Matteo again. Lucien did not spare him another glance.Lucien draped his jacket over my shoulders, wrapped an arm around my waist, and took my full weight. "The doctor is outside. And your glass has been secured."I blinked. "How did you know?""You missed your check-in time. T

Chapter 5

The ballroom erupted in whispers.Matteo stared at the ring as if it had been driven through his chest."That's impossible." His voice came out hoarse. "She was engaged to me.""Three years ago," I said. "Then you locked me in a cellar for another woman."My mother's face had gone white. "You married the head of the Draven family without telling us?""You stopped being entitled to information about my life the night you listened to me scream and did nothing."Marco took a step toward Lucien. "A secret marriage doesn't erase her obligations to the Romano family.""It changes who controls your European routes," Lucien replied.Marco stopped.Lucien looked at my father. "Every Romano shipment entering Europe has depended on Elena's companies for the past three years. If she withdraws those contracts, your ships will not clear a single Draven-controlled port."My father's expression collapsed.For the first time that night, no one was looking at Giulia.They were looking at me.Not as the

Chapter 6

The photograph lay in the center of the table. No one spoke.My father stared at the younger Salvatore Ricci standing beside the men who had kidnapped me. His face had lost all color."This proves nothing," Giulia said. "My father worked for the Romano family. He could have been investigating those men."Grandfather opened the black file. "Salvatore never worked for us. He worked for the Moretti family."A second photograph landed beside the first. It showed Salvatore entering a warehouse owned by the Morettis three days before my kidnapping. Grandfather continued, "He gave them my granddaughter's schedule, disabled the cameras outside her school, and helped move her through the docks."My mother shook her head. "He died protecting Lorenzo.""No," Grandfather said. "He disappeared after the Morettis paid him. The death certificate was forged."He placed a recent photograph on the table. Salvatore looked older, but the face was unmistakable. "He is alive. He has been living in Montreal

Chapter 7

Enzo raised his head and looked at Matteo. "I heard you threatened to withdraw Bellini support unless Donna Draven apologized to a traitor.""I did not know she was married to Lucien," Matteo said.Enzo struck him across the face. The sound echoed through the ballroom. "That is the problem," Enzo said. "You thought a woman had no value unless you gave it to her."Matteo pressed a hand to his cheek. "She hid the marriage from us.""She ended your engagement three years ago. You ignored her decision because you assumed she would come crawling back."Enzo turned toward the other family heads. "For years, Bellini shipments entering Europe have moved through companies controlled by Elena. My son threatened the woman keeping our European business alive."Matteo looked at me. "The routes belong to Romano Shipping.""Three of them do," I said. "The other eight belong to me."Silence fell again. Grandfather had given me three struggling European routes. During my years in Paris, I had expanded

Chapter 8

My father ended the call and turned on me. "You will reverse that order. You are still a Romano. Those routes belong to this family.""The original three belong to Romano Shipping. The other eight belong to Elena Maritime Group.""Everything you have came from us.""Then you should have remembered that before you replaced me."Marco stepped forward. "You cannot cripple the family because your feelings were hurt.""You lost an enemy spy inside your own house, allowed her to steal shipping manifests, and locked the only person who exposed her in a cellar." I looked directly at him. "You crippled the family. I am simply refusing to carry it."Grandfather placed another document on the table. "Lorenzo, you should read this before giving another order."My father scanned the first page. His hands began to shake. Grandfather had retained thirty percent of Romano Shipping. The document transferred his voting proxy to me. Combined with my own shares, I now controlled fifty five percent of the

Chapter 9

One month later, the European Crime Commission held its annual gathering in Paris.Giulia and Salvatore were awaiting trial in federal custody. The evidence taken from her accounts had exposed three Moretti shell companies and cost their allies millions.The Romano council had permanently removed Marco as Underboss. Nico had lost his position, and every family he approached refused to hire a security chief who had protected a spy.Enzo Bellini had named Matteo's younger cousin as his successor. Without his title, accounts, or family authority, Matteo had become the very thing he once accused me of being. Powerless.My parents had sent letters to Paris every week. Some contained apologies. Others contained requests disguised as concern. I returned every one unopened.Grandfather remained with us while he completed his medical treatment. He never asked me to forgive them. "They are suffering the consequences of their choices," he told me. "It is not your responsibility to make those cons

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